London Northwestern Class 730s

[Domh245]

And dragging it back on topic, the first 730 seems to be nearing completion (at least, before Litchurch lane halted production!) and it'll be a WMR example, which I suppose makes sense as there's no great hurry to release the 350/2s and 319s off the WCML compared to releasing the 323s for Northern.

 

[city dweller]

Here's a pic of the 730.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Apart from that awful livery that's quite an attractive unit for a suburban EMU. I think they will suit the LNR "Trebor Mints" livery a lot better, though.

 

[D365]

Apart from that awful livery that's quite an attractive unit for a suburban EMU. I think they will suit the LNR "Trebor Mints" livery a lot better, though.

I quite like the livery myself. Been a long time since we've seen a brand new fleet delivered in orange.

 

[Domh245]

Worth noting the livery isn't finished yet - it's yet to receive the 'fading diamonds' although it's still far from pretty

 

[Energy]

Apart from that awful livery that's quite an attractive unit for a suburban EMU. I think they will suit the LNR "Trebor Mints" livery a lot better, though.

Its a same we have gone from the excellent LM livery to the WMR livery which looks fairly good on 170s, not great on 172s and terrible elsewhere and the LNR livery which is just ok.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Its a same we have gone from the excellent LM livery to the WMR livery which looks fairly good on 170s, not great on 172s and terrible elsewhere and the LNR livery which is just ok.

I still hold the view that the originally proposed silver livery was much, much nicer. Orange and purple just clash horribly.

 

[Energy]

I still hold the view that the originally proposed silver livery was much, much nicer. Orange and purple just clash horribly.

What was the original silver livery?

 

[Bletchleyite]

What was the original silver livery?

Here you go:

Original proposed WMR livery on Class 172

 

[Energy]

Here you go:

Original proposed WMR livery on Class 172

It's better but still not great in my opinion.

 

[Prestige15]

Seems they are still using those cheap looking headlights rather than proper LED/Xenon kind (i.e class 68)

 

[185]

Seems they are still using those cheap looking headlights rather than proper LED/Xenon kind (i.e class 68)

Whilst they are nice and bright, they're a pain for dazzling oncoming trains.

 

[Domh245]

Getting off topic, but redoing the livery to match the scheme on the trams & busses (ie light into dark of the same colour per mode) it looks less terrible

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not sure about brown!

 

[Mikey C]

I LOVED the old LM livery, it made even the dowdiest unit look fresh and modern

As for orange and brown, there's only 1 livery which made it work!

 

[Wyrleybart]

Can't disagree. Jaffa livery was very nice and fresh too

 

[Bletchleyite]

I LOVED the old LM livery, it made even the dowdiest unit look fresh and modern

Agreed. A Best Impressions job I believe.

 

[fgwrich]

Agreed. A Best Impressions job I believe.

...It made even the dowdiest unit look fresh and modern

It was and it did indeed. Those 150s looked very smart when they were repainted into the LM Livery, while the 153s still look smart in it to this day.

Certainly up there in my top liveries list, and a real shame to see it replaced by the awful 'Trebor' LNWR scheme.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The "Trebor Mints" livery is growing on me, but it's not a patch on LM - nor is the TOC!

 

[Flinn Reed]

Its a same we have gone from the excellent LM livery to the WMR livery which looks fairly good on 170s, not great on 172s and terrible elsewhere and the LNR livery which is just ok.

I actually don't mind the LNR & WMR liveries, though an updated version of the LM livery could have been better (at least for the LNR brand).

However, I think the new interiors are far more of a let down compared to London Midland's interior scheme, having recently travelled on a refurbished 350/1 for the first time. The texture of the seat fabric is not nice visually, and far less comfortable than the previous moquette style. The predominantly grey colour scheme is far worse than the brighter green scheme used by LM, and the same goes for the WMR interior. Both would be significantly improved if the handrail and seat colours were swapped - dark grey seats with light green diamonds for LNR, or dark purple seats with orange diamonds for WMR (still dark colours to better hide stains etc), each with grey poles.

 

[Elshad]

Looks like all the later Aventras (701 and 730 etc.) are using the sliding, Electrostar-like cab door instead of the weird hinged doors of the earlier ones. Looks much better in my opinion.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looks like all the later Aventras (701 and 730 etc.) are using the sliding, Electrostar-like cab door instead of the weird hinged doors of the earlier ones. Looks much better in my opinion.

I thought something looked different but couldn't think what!

Perhaps this is the TOCs who are going to use guarded operation rather than DOO speccing differently? If dispatching from the cab, the droplight is useful to be able to watch the PTI on departure.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I LOVED the old LM livery, it made even the dowdiest unit look fresh and modern

As for orange and brown, there's only 1 livery which made it work!

Nice photo, and of Strood !.

 

[Whistler40145]

Here's a pic of the 730.

The Class 730 frontage looks similar to the ScotRail Class 385

 

[D365]

The Class 730 frontage looks similar to the ScotRail Class 385

I really don't see it. The only similarity is the gangway.

 

[Domh245]

I thought something looked different but couldn't think what!

Perhaps this is the TOCs who are going to use guarded operation rather than DOO speccing differently? If dispatching from the cab, the droplight is useful to be able to watch the PTI on departure.

701s are very much not guarded - at least that's the plan in terms of dispatch! Rather I suspect that as part of the development of the 'new' cab style from the 701s onwards, the sliding door was introduced although why this is I don't know. The DOO cameras on the previous front end design would clash with the sliding door but that may be chicken and egg - I would guess at the cab being smaller internally on the later design and so having an external sliding door means more room internally.

 

[dorsetdesiro]

The Class 730 frontage looks similar to the ScotRail Class 385

I think the 196 (CAF Civity), also built for WMR, closely resembles the 385 more than the 730.

The 730, with its gangway ends, looks very similar to those Electrostars in service with Southern, Southeastern, GA and GWR. A characteristically Electrostar aspect carried over to Aventras.

 

[Whistler40145]

I think the 196 (CAF Civity), also built for WMR, closely resembles the 385 more than the 730.

The 730, with its gangway ends, looks very similar to those Electrostars in service with Southern, Southeastern, GA and GWR. A characteristically Electrostar aspect carried over to Aventras.

The 385 has a bigger slanted front

 

[Domh245]

The 385s have fairly well rounded front ends, which was cause for the visibility issues with the windscreens (as well as their tiny size) - Bombardier and CAF have managed to keep the front ends of their respective gangwayed units fairly flat.

 

[Bevan Price]

2x, but as they are 24m units rather than 20m 2x730 is the same length as 3x350.

1x730 is 120m long, the rough length of a Class 350 and a half, which is actually a perfect length for most off peak south WCML services. 4 is rarely enough but 8 often excessive.

So, no problems in the south, but there will be problems for services terminating in Crewe, especially those which normally use bay Platform 7. This just hold 2x350, but will only be able to cater for 1x730.